Buttercream

I wish I can say I enjoy making wedding cakes...and I wish I can say I easily say "no".  Call me a soft touch or call me a sucker-I'm making one this August.

I don't make a lot of cake. Let me rephrase that: I make A LOT of cake- walnut tortes, lemon bundts, gingerbread, the occasional cupcake, boston cream pie. Upside-down cakes and pound cakes. Budinos and tres leches.  What I haven't made many of are classic layer cakes, filled with what-have-you, frosted with buttercream. 

I'm a perfectionist (anal) in the kitchen, and maybe (okay, definitely) a bit neurotic. Buttercream, as a medium, is no friend to my nervous system. No matter how smooth a surface one creates with it, it will never be flawless, and my latent OCD will not allow me to walk away from the inevitable bump and dink one spots at close range. I can think I'm done, it's over. Goodbye forever. I can be in the next room, resting, blood pressure returning to normal, and I'll hear a voice from the kitchen whining "Mommy, I have a boo-boo".  I'll smooth its brow, find another nick, and the cycle renews.  This is why I (and, I suspect, many others) tend to coat cakes with ganache.

That said, I think buttercream is fantastic, not just for eatin' but creating.  I love whipping yolks 'til they're puffy and pale-colored (or whites until they've reached soft peaks) streaming in hot sugar-syrup, watching the formula turn from limp to fluffy as the whisk spins, adding the softened butter chunk by chunk, the adrenaline rush if the mixture curdles, and the miracle of it coming back together into a glorious, glossy finish.  And the best  part- how my hands feel and smell after handling all that butter.

But a wedding cake- ugh. Luckily I'll be making it with a partner, who approached me with the project. She's a fine gal who works as a nurse (but received a degree in pastry from CIA) and has, like me, limited wedding cake experience. Between the two of us we've made- outside of school- exactly two. I alone heard the "nooooo!!"  in the pit of my stomach, but my mouth has a mind of its own. To my horror, it chirped "Sure! That sounds like fun!".  Oy vey.

Comments

Here's my tip for buttercream--just put a little Marshmallow Fluff in the frosting. The weddings guests will rave and only you will know what the secret is--fools them every time!

[maura]

Marshmallow Fluff? You must be from the East Coast! Do I know you?

[maura]

p.s. I admit, when I first moved to Cali my mother used to send me Fluff in the mail since it's not available here!

[Mitzy]

this is funny. i can totally see you being like that...but because you're a perfectionist--everything you do turns to gold!

p.s. i do love the new look. it's very organized and cool!

[Patty]

I like the new look as well.

There's still no fluff out here in Cali right? I haven't been to a regular supermarket lately to look for it either.

[Regina]

I haven't had marshmellow fluff in ages. We used to call it "fluffer-nutter". It went great with peanut butter. My family used to put it on graham crackers with a bar of chocolate. We would call these wonderful creations "smores". Possibly because the kids would sit around the campfire singing "we want s'more". A little family secret.

[shuna fish lydon]

Years ago I was hired as the pastry chef for a catering company. my first job after tediously cleaning fish scales off my soon to be station, was a wedding cake.

I knew to be very afraid but then I said, buy me The Cake Bible and I will be ok.

What I remember most is standing on two milk crates with the 60Q Hobart mixing bowl filled with egg whites over a steaming stock pot.

And sticking all those wooden supports into a cake I was sure someone would accidently be fed and die from.

But now I say no and reccomend my favorite wedding cake makers and no one has ever been disappointed.

[chefani]

I'm still chuckling at your comments about the country weddin'. We actually pulled it off, but I'm still on record with a big NOOOOO the next time someone even begins to utter the request! I must say,I did overcome my Italian buttercream phobia, love hearing the slapping of eggwhite/butter mixture when suddenly, it's buttercream!!